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The twenty best trails in and around the town that is the center of the known world for outdoor recreation.

• A rugged Pack Guide, conveniently sized to fit and endure years of stuffing into pants or pack pockets.

• Brightly written, color-photographed, and mapped by the knowledgeable members of the oldest mountaineering club in Colorado.

• Trails for all ability levels, each offering something special for the visitor and local alike.

It’s true. If you don’t hike, climb, ride, ski, or at least run—the Boulder locals will drive you nuts with stories of the coolest route, the gnarliest climb, or the all-day ride to Grand Lake and back.

But here is how you can get back at them. Hike some of the trails in The Best Boulder Hikes and you can be right in there with them, telling tales of great routes.

For visitors and locals, casual walkers and hard-core mountaineers, Boulder has arguably the best “back yard” in the country. More than 60 named trails lie in the foothills within a half-hour of town, and scores of more high-altitude trails are within an hour. For a beautiful route through town, start at Eben Fine Park at the mouth of Boulder Canyon and walk west or east along Boulder Creek. The eastern route is wheel-chair accessible. For a rolling foothills route try the Mesa Trail that runs from Chautauqua south seven miles to Eldorado Springs. And for putting up a route to over 13,000 feet, try the trail up Mount Audubon, but get an early start. The afternoon thunderstorms are always a tad bit sporty.

A team of writers, photographers, and map makers from the Boulder Group of The Colorado Mountain Club (CMC) has selected 20 of the finest trails of all levels of difficulty for this Pack Guide. CMC members built many of the trails and pioneered many of the climbing and mountaineering routes in the region in the early 1900s.